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Draftable Legal reaches into Microsoft Office and Outlook through add-ins, and there are currently two generations of them:
  • The COM add-ins (also called VSTO add-ins) — the original integration, installed onto each Windows machine by the Draftable Legal desktop application itself.
  • The JavaScript add-ins — the modern integration, deployed centrally to your Microsoft 365 tenant and delivered to users by Microsoft.
Both put a Draftable entry point in front of your users, but they are built, deployed, updated and controlled in completely different ways. If you are deciding which to roll out — or you have inherited an estate running both — this article explains the difference.
Short answer: the JavaScript add-ins are where all new capability is being built, and they are what we recommend for new and existing deployments. The COM add-ins remain supported for organizations that cannot use Microsoft 365 Centralized Deployment.

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The COM (VSTO) add-ins

These are Windows-only add-ins built on Microsoft’s Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO) runtime. There are three: How they behave:
  • They are installed by the desktop application, not by you. When Draftable Legal launches, it checks whether each add-in is enabled and installs it for the current user if it is missing. There is no separate installer to deploy.
  • They are per user. The add-in is registered under the signed-in user’s profile on that machine, so a user who moves to a new machine gets the add-ins installed again on first launch there.
  • They depend on the VSTO runtime being present on the machine. Where it is missing, installation fails and Draftable reports it.
  • The comparison always runs in the desktop application. The ribbon button hands your document off to Draftable Legal and the New Comparison window opens.
  • They are controlled through the registry and Group Policy under the Draftable Feature namespace. See Most common Draftable Legal registry configurations for the exact values.

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The JavaScript add-ins

These are standard Microsoft 365 Office Add-ins, described by a manifest that you deploy once to your tenant through Integrated apps in the Microsoft 365 admin center. Microsoft then delivers the add-in to the users or groups you nominated. There are five, and they split into two families:
  • Draftable in Office / Outlook — a full side panel that runs the comparison workflow inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook, including file selection from your DMS, profile selection, comparison type selection and next actions.
  • Draftable for Office / Outlook — lighter commands that send the document, attachment, selection or text out to the Draftable Legal desktop application, where the comparison runs with full access to advanced features.
Plus Redline in Email, the Outlook add-in that produces a redline of the changes you have made to an attachment as you reply. How they behave:
  • You deploy them once, centrally. One manifest URL per add-in, entered in the Microsoft 365 admin center, targeted at everyone or at specific users and groups.
  • You choose how binding the deployment is — Fixed (users cannot remove it), Available (users opt in) or Optional (installed but removable).
  • Updates arrive without touching the endpoint. The add-in is served from Draftable’s delivery network, so new versions reach users without a desktop upgrade or a new package.
  • They still require Draftable Legal on the machine. Each add-in has a minimum desktop version, listed in its installation article above. The for add-ins hand work to the desktop application by design; the in add-ins need it present as well.
  • Endpoints must be able to reach dl.draftable.com. If your web filter or proxy blocks it, manifest validation fails at deployment time and the add-ins will not load for users.

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Side by side

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Which should you use?

Deploy the JavaScript add-ins if you can. They cover more host applications, offer richer workflows including in-panel comparison and DMS version selection, deploy and update centrally, and are where the product is going. Stay on the COM add-ins where Microsoft 365 Centralized Deployment is not available to you — for example if you are running a non-Microsoft-365 Office licence, or your tenant administration sits outside your team’s control. Running both at once works, but users pay for it. Word and Outlook will show two separate Draftable entry points in the ribbon, with different capabilities behind each, and there is no visual cue as to which is which. In practice this generates support calls. Where you have both, pick one and retire the other.
Ready to consolidate onto the JavaScript add-ins? See Moving from the COM add-ins to the JavaScript add-ins for the process, including which settings actually stop the COM add-ins reappearing.